I've owned many machines over the past 20 years and currently have a Pfaff 7550, a Babylock Ellegante and a Babylock Ellure. I wanted to get another machine to use in conjuction with my Pfaff (fingers crossed that the board doesn't die) and only have Babylock, Viking and Bernina dealers within driving distance (50 miles). After doing research, I decided on the Bernina 350PE as it didn't even blink when it sewed through the samples I brought to the store. I called store #2 and store #1 matched the price so I ordered it and it's due to arrive this week. However, I am now learning that I probably paid about $200 more than what the *average* is for the machine. I suppose my real reason for posting (in addition for looking for sympathy LOL) is to ask how you negotiate a lower price when two dealers in the area tell you that they are giving you the "lowest price" when the price is higher than what you see others have paid? I don't even have the machine yet and I'm having buyers remorse.

Allow yourself a 10-minute pity party for buyer's remorse, then concentrate on the joy of getting such a great machine. If you are not taking food out of your child's mouth, you did fine. You even got them to match another dealer! Different areas and volumes may create different prices, but unless you are willing to travel far and forgo dealer advantages, you probably wouldn't go there. Consider it like a used car dealer, except it is even harder to get prices to compare. I hope you really enjoy your new toy.

Thank you! I'm so glad I stumbled upon this site! I've been sewing for years and never knew this site existed. I really am eager to get my new toy. Just sometimes I overthink things too much! Did I really need the Bernina...well no, but I'm so afraid that my Pfaff is going to die that I'd rather have another machine as a back up, so I don't over-use the Pfaff!

Prices are different for lots of reasons. I am pretty sure I have over paid for my machines compared to some of the prices I have seen on here but I think it is my area. It sounds like you got a good price for your area and if you have a dealer you like then you did the best you could. Enjoy the new machine and hopefully your old Pfaff will not die anytime soon!

The "lowest" price may be the lowest they can go. If you went to two different car dealers each may say the same because their "lowest" price could vary based on their cost which is based on how many they buy, resulting discounts, etc. And cost of doing business varies too, overhead (i.e. rent, labor) may be considerably different in different areas as well. As you noted, you're comparing to "average" price here - average is made up of lower prices (maybe higher volume dealers getting a better, more discounted price, or having lower overhead) as well as higher (high profit dealer who may offer more after purchase benefit or sells fewer and has less discount/profit margin to work with). I had one friend lamenting about how much she paid for a machine vs. a friend in another area, insisting the dealer ripped her off, etc. etc. I asked "would you like to live in (friend's location name)?" "EW NOOOOO!!!!". Well there's a reason things are cheaper in some places than others, amenities, cost of living, environment etc.

How much did you agree to pay? Hard to give any advice without that information. I wouldn't be a bit surprised at rather a high price. My dealer here does not bargain. Nope. You pay the price. For that nice Bernina I would say don't worry about it. Unless it is more than the MSRP of $1799 I wouldn't worry.

I've seen as much as $1000 difference in price for the same bernina with dealers not more than 50 miles apart. down the road, someone (depending on where they live) might feel you got a whale of a deal at the price you paid.

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